You Remind Me
by xo-charmedfan-xo
Summary: Lia's daughter comes to the office, but Lia doesn't want to see her because she reminds her of why she had her. Lia was raped, and now the man that hurt her has come back to do it again. LiaDuff. I DON'T OWN STANDOFF or Archer14's story, FOUND!
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Standoff.

* * *

Lia walked through the front doors, humming a tune that she heard on the radio on the way to work. Walking over to the elevators, she almost ran into Emily. "Oh, sorry Emily." 

"You heading up to the office?" Emily asked her.

Lia nodded in response and walked with Emily into the elevator, pressing button 3. Emily notcied Lia smiling. "Let me guess... good date with Duff?"

"Oh, it was amazing." Lia told her. "Duff is great... he bought me flowers, we went to dinner, and..."

Emily smirked, knowing what she was going to say. "And you guys had sex." Lia nodded. "You are such a sleaze... on your first date?"

"Well from what I recall, I'm not the only one who had sex on their first date." Lia raised her eyebrows at her own remark, and Emily rolled her eyes.

The elevators opened, and they both stepped out, walking towards the office. Emily scoffed. "That is so different."

"Oh yeah, how?" Lia stopped and placed her hands on her hips.

"W-W-Well..." Emily stuttered, trying to make up an excuse, and Lia just stared at her.

"Lehman, in my office." Cheryl yelled, and Emily nodded.

Emily turned to Lia. "I'll talk to you later, Lia... maybe I'll meet you for lunch if my schedule's cleared!"

Lia nodded

* * *

Walking into her office, Lia set down her items on her desk. Hearing a knock on her door, she turned around. "Duff." 

"Hey Lia." He greeted, and closed the door behind him. He walked over to her, only leaving a tiny gap between them. "I had a great time last night."

Lia smiled. "Me too."

Duff walked a little closer to her, closing the gap between them. He grazed her arm lightly, and she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. "I'd like to do it again sometime."

She giggled at his words. "What, the dinner or the sex?"

"Well, I was talking about the dinner... but maybe even the sex." Duff told her. "Or we could do lunch, or-"

Lia smiled once again. "You're babbling."

He leaned in closer, the lips brushing against each other. "I tend to do that when I'm with a beautiful woman."

Lia smiled as their lips met. It began as a soft, gentle kiss, but became more intense and passionate by the second. The kiss was interrupted as both their beepers went off. Sighing, Lia broke the kiss and leaned her forehead against Duff's. Looking at her pager, it read, 'In my office. Cheryl.'

* * *

Duff and Lia walked into Cheryl's office, and by the look on Cheryl's face, they knew that they were in trouble. 

"You know very well about relationships with co-workers being forbidden in the office." Cheryl told them, and they both avoided her gaze. "But... I am trusting you to not let your personal life get in the way of your jobs." They both looked up at her in surprise, and smiled. "But if it goes too far, you're going to have to end it."

Lia and Duff nodded, grateful. Walking out of her office, they sighed in relief.

"Oh thank god." Lia said.

Duff smiled. "Do you wanna meet up for lunch?"

Lia nodded. "Sure... I'd like that."

"I gotta go... Frank gets pretty grumpy when he doesn't get his coffee in the morning." Duff said.

"Okay... I'll meet you in the front for lunch." Lia told him, and kissed him, before walking away.

Walking over to Emily's office, Lia knocked on the door. "What?" Was Emily's response.

Lia opened the door, peeking her head in. "Hey... is this a bad time?"

Emily looked up from her paperwork, and smiled. "No, not at all. Sorry, I'm just a little aggrivated with all of this paperwork."

"Oh, I'll come back-" Lia was interrupted.

"No." Emily said. "It's okay... I need a break anyways." She got out of her chair and walked over to the other side of her desk, sitting on the edge while Lia sat right next to her. "So, did you see Duff?"

Lia nodded. "He asked me out on another date. I'm sorry, but he asked me out to lunch. I hope you're not mad at me for canceling our lunch today."

"No, its fine." Emily said sympathetically. "I understand. I can't imagine how many times I've done that to you with Matt... I just hope you don't do the same thing that I did. My relationship with Matt almost ruined my relationship with you."

Lia smiled, remembering those memories.

* * *

_Lia stomped through the hallway, furious, while everyone stared at her, confused. They had never seen Lia mad before, since she was usually so calm and happy. Emily had ditched her again so she could spend time with Matt. Walking up to the door, she slammed it open to see Matt and Emily kissing. "Emily, I need to talk to you."_

_They immediately stopped and Emily glared at Lia. "I'm kind of busy, can't it wait?"_

_"No, it can't." Lia said, returning the glare that Emily was giving her. "You haven't spent any time with me in two weeks!" _

_Emily scoffed. "Are you jealous?"_

_Lia rolled her eyes. "No, but not being able to hang out with my best friend is getting kind of aggrivating since she keeps ditching me for her boyfriend!" _

_Matt walked over to Lia. "Wait... what's going on?"_

_"It seems that someone's a bit jealous that I have a boyfriend and she doesn't." Emily said coldly, which made Lia and Matt flinch._

_"Now wait just a minute, Em." Matt turned to face her. "You can't talk to Lia like that!" Emily looked taken aback. "You told me that you never had any plans with Lia when I asked you."_

_"W-w-well, I-" Emily stuttered, but Matt continued. _

_"Lia just wants spend some time with her best friend... and you've been ditching her the whole time. If you keep doing that, then you won't even have a boyfriend anymore." Matt told her. _

_Emily smiled sadly, letting it all sink in. She went over to Lia and hugged her tightly. "I'm so sorry, Lia... I never meant to ditch you like that."_

_Lia smiled. "It's okay, Em." She returned the hug. "I'm just glad that you understand."_

* * *

"Lia. Lia." Emily calling her name broke her out of her trance. 

"Oh, sorry... just had a little flashback." Lia told her.

Emily smiled. "Okay, it's time for lunch! So, go out with Duff to lunch, come right back and tell me how it went." She started pushing Lia to the door. "Give me all the juicy details, and no sex!"

Lia gave her a look before walking out, and Emily smiled.

Emily walked into the lobby, noticing a girl standing in the middle of the room, looking nervous. She walked over to her and asked, "Can I help you with something?" She noticed that the girl looked very familiar to her, but she couldn't figure out why.

The girl nodded. "Umm, actually, I'm looking for someone... Agent Lia Mathers."

Emily smiled. "Well, you're in luck! Lia's my best friend. But she's out to lunch right now... do you mind waiting a little bit for her? She should be back soon." The girl nodded. "What's your name?"

"Alicia." The girl muttered. "Alicia Gordon."

"I'm Agent Lehman. Do you need somewhere to sit?" Emily asked.

Alicia shook her head. "No, I'm fine. I just want to see Agent Mathers soon."

Inside, Alicia felt relief wash over her. She had a huge urge to see Lia, but was also very nervous and scared. She didn't know what she would expect from her. She would just have to wait and see what would happen.


	2. Chapter 2

Lia and Duff walked into the lobby, both laughing about a joke that Duff made. They entered the elevators and kissed softly.

"I had a great time." Lia said, smiling.

Duff grinned. "Me too. Who knew that you could fit so much food in your skinny body."

Lia looked at him incredously. "You are so mean!"

He smirked. "It's a compliment, Lia. I'm saying that you're skinny. You might even need to fatten up a bit!" Lia gave him a look. "Sorry, babe."

"It's okay." She said, and the elevator dinged. "Well, this is my stop." Duff frowned. "Oh, don't pout, work ends in five hours... I'll see you then."

"Okay." Duff told her, and kissed her on the cheek, before letting her out of the elevator.

As she heard the elevator doors close, she smiled happily. Walking into Emily's office, she took off her jacket, not noticing Alicia sitting on the other side of the cubicles outside. "Hey Em, do you wanna invite Matt to come with us to dinner? I'm bringing Duff."

Emily raised her eyebrows. "You're bringing Duff?" Lia nodded. "Sure, I'll bring Matt... you really like Duff, don't you."

"Yeah, I do." Lia smiled. "I mean, he's really a great guy. He sends me flowers, he makes me laugh... he's everything that I love."

"I'm really glad that you're happy." Emily said.

Lia hugged Emily. "Thanks, Em. You're the best!" She walked to the door. "I have to go work on some files for Cheryl or else she'll have my head... and we don't want that when we're going out to dinner tonight, now do we?" She exited Emily's office, which made Emily realize that she forgot to tell Lia about Alicia.

Emily was about to walk outside to catch up to Lia, but Matt came into her office. "Hey... what's going on with Duff and Lia? I see them around everywhere together now... they're usually never in the same room together. And Frank said that Lia's all he can talk about now. Do you know anything about this?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I do. Didn't I tell you about it? Duff and Lia have been going out for a while."

"Huh... interesting. Does Cheryl know about it?" Matt asked her.

"Actually, I'm not sure." Emily got up from her seat. "I mean, if she did talk to them, Lia and Duff would of had to have ended their relationship." She studied the look on Matt's face. "Right?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, I mean... she's gone kind of soft lately ever since she lost Sam."

"So you're saying that she's gone soft on Lia and Duff because of her own relationship with her ex-boyfriend?" Emily asked, surprised and Matt nodded. "Wanna meet me, Lia and Duff for dinner tonight?"

* * *

Emily walked out of her office, and sat down by Alicia, who was sitting there nervously. "I'm sorry, I saw Lia but I forgot to tell Lia. Do you wanna come with me to go and get her?"

"Um... um..." Alicia mumbled.

Lia, who was on the other side of the room, bumped into Duff. "Hey, Duff."

Duff smiled. "Hey Lia... aren't you supposed to be doing some paperwork for Cheryl?"

"Uh, yeah, I was going to do that, I just forgot some paperwork in here. Oh, do you want to meet Emily and Matt for dinner tonight?" Duff smiled. "I'll take that as a yes."

She looked across the room to look for Emily, and saw Alicia talking to her. Her face turned pale as Alicia walked into Emily's office, letting Lia see her face clearly. Emily closed the office door and spotted Lia and started walking over to her.

Duff looked at Lia's face, confused. "Hey, you okay, babe?" She didn't answer him, but just kept staring at Emily's office door. "Lia. Lia?"

"I-I... I have to go." Lia stuttered, and ran off, just as Emily came up to them.

"Lia!" Duff and Emily yelled.

Lia ran into the bathroom and over to the sinks, turning on the water. Gathering the water in her hands, she splashed it on her now pale face, letting the ice cold water refresh her. 'How did she get here?'

She heard the bathroom door open, but she didn't turn to see who it was. Staring down at the sink, the woman walked over to her. "Lia? What happened?"

"Nothing." Lia mumbled as she dried off her hands.

Emily wanted to know what was wrong, but she didn't want to push Lia too hard. She knew that if she did, then Lia wouldn't tell her anything. "That girl has been looking for you all day. Do you know who she is?"

Lia closed her eyes and sighed before answering. "Yeah... yeah I do." She took a breath before saying, "She's my daughter."


	3. Chapter 3

Emily stared at Lia in shock, processing what Lia just told her. "Daughter?" Tears started to fall from Lia's eyes. "You... have a daughter?"

She started waving her hand in front of her face, like she was trying to cool herself off. "Is it burning hot to you in here?" Emily knew that Lia was trying to avoid her question.

Walking over to the wall by a window, Lia slowly slid down until she was sitting down. She hugged her knees to her chest and placed her head in her hands. Emily just stared at her, and Lia felt like her gaze was burning fiery holes in her body. She wished Emily would leave her alone, but at the same time, she wanted the company of her best friend. All the feelings that she was holding was being bottled up inside her, and she felt like it was going to burst open at any time.

Anger. Resentment. Sadness. Pain. Guilt.

They were all things that she felt 8 years ago, and she wished that they would have never come back. She suddenly felt the nausea coming back up, but she took deep breaths, willing it to subside.

Lia really didn't want to talk about what was going on, but she knew that Emily wouldn't go away without an explanation of why she was acting this way. She soon realized that Emily had joined her on the floor. "So, do you want the cliff-notes version or the full version?"

"Whatever is better for you." Emily told her sympathetically.

Lia closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she stared at the floor, not wanting to meet Emily's gaze. "I... I went to private schools practically my whole life. But I wanted to go to a public school, so I transferred my senior year. I loved my new school... I was popular, I had alot of great friends, I was a cheerleader... it was the typical highschool life for me. This jock asked me out, and I said yes. I mean, I turned him down before, or I kept making up excuses because I never went on a date before. In my private school, it was only girls. I didn't know what to do on a date... what to wear, how to get ready."

After sighing to catch her breath, Lia continued. "I got one of my best friends to help me. She did my hair, my makeup, everything. So, he picked me up and he brought me flowers. I thought he was one of the sweetest guys I ever met." Lia smiled. "The date went great... we went out to dinner and saw a movie. It was probably about ten o' clock, and we went up to this hill in front of a forest that had a great view of the city."

She stopped, and Lia began rubbing her back, trying to help her finish the story. "You okay?"

Lia nodded, and continued, "I was having a great time... just sitting there and enjoying the breeze. Then, he told me that he wished that I would let him kiss me... so, I did... I let him."

She began crying once again, and Emily kept rubbing her back. "Shh... it's okay, Lia."

"He... he raped me." Lia said, which caused more tears to fall as Emily was left shocked once again.

"It's okay, Lia... I know how you feel." Emily immediately regretted saying that, since she didn't know how she felt. She had never been raped, or anything like that.

Lia glared at Emily, furious that she said that. "You... you know how I feel?! How could you possibly know how I feel! You've never had someone violate a trust that you had never given anyone before. Emily, you don't know what it's like to feel so helpless when someone who's so much bigger than you holds you down as you struggle against him, trying to get away. You... you don't know the pain that I felt as he touched me... when you don't want him to, but you... you're afraid that if you said anything to him, if you said no, then he would just do it more."

She now had salty tears running down her cheeks as Emily hugged her close, trying to comfort her as much as she could. "I'm so sorry, Lia... I'm so sorry."

"No, I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that." Lia apologized, and continued her story. "My parents found out about me being raped, so they filed a lawsuit against him... he went to jail for it. But... he... he got me pregnant. I stopped going to school for a while, and was home-schooled. The day that I was in the hospital to have the baby, all I could think about was how this could of happened."

"No one deserves to go what you went through Lia, no one." Emily told her.

Lia nodded. "I know. But when the baby was born, I couldn't even look at her. I didn't want to look at her, think about her or even hold her. Whenever that happened all I could think about was the night that caused it all. I just... I couldn't bear it. My parents tried to get me to at least hold it, but I was too stubborn and emotional to. I just felt pain and guilt wash all over me as my parents and I decided to give it up for adoption."

"Were you the one that named her?" Emily asked.

"Yeah." Lia said. "I always liked the name Alicia when I was a little girl... it means 'Of Noble Birth'." She scoffed. "Like that's true."

Emily sighed. "Lia, look at me." Lia stared at Emily, teary-eyed. "You can't blame yourself for what happened. This was not your fault... lots of people would have just done abortion. But you didn't, because you knew that it was still a life. A living human being that didn't deserve to die, even if it came from something horrible and wrong. You did the right thing by giving her up for adoption."

Lia looked down. "But she doesn't know... she doesn't know even half of the story. She probably just thinks that I was a stupid teenager who made one mistake and didn't care about her own baby."

"Why don't you tell her, then?" Emily asked.

"I... I can't. I can't even look at her. Because when I do..." Lia's voice trailed off as she brushed away the tears that were almost gone from her face. "I think of the day that I was raped. It's just... it's so hard, Emily."

Emily rubbed Lia's back. "You don't have to if you don't want to. But its better to face it now than later."

Lia finally met Emily's gaze. "Okay."

* * *

Duff walked over to Alicia, who was sitting in Emily's office. "What's your name, honey?"

She avoided his gaze. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

"Don't worry, I'm not a stranger." He flashed her his FBI badge. "I work here. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."

"I'm fine, I was just waiting for Lia Mathers... Agent Lehman said that she would go find her for me." Alicia explained. "She's been gone for a while, though. Maybe I should just come back later."

"How about we wait out here for her... she should be back really soon." Duff told her as he led her out of the office.

As he and Alicia stood there in silence, they both heard the elevator doors open, and Emily and Lia stepped out.

Lia's and Alicia's eyes met across the room, and Lia's face drained of color. "What am I supposed to say to her? She probably thinks that I'm horrible."

She and Emily started walking over to Duff and Alicia as Emily said, "No she won't... she'll understand." She and Alicia reached Alicia and Duff, while Lia and Alicia just kept on staring at each other. "Alicia, this is Lia. Lia, this is Alicia."

It was at this time that Emily noticed how much they looked alike. They both had dark brown eyes that practically blended in with their pupils, and their luscious brown hair had a slight wave to it.

"There's a coffee shop right down the street. Why don't we talk there." Lia told Alicia, and guided her out of the office.

* * *

Duff turned to Emily. "What the hell is going on?"

As they walked into the coffee shop, Lia asked, "Do you want anything?"

Alicia shook her head. "No thanks."

Lia walked over to the counter and ordered what she wanted. After getting her coffee, she and Alicia sat down at a table near a window. "So... why did you come?" Alicia looked hurt by the question. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. What I meant is... how did you know about me?"

"Well, I didn't really." Lia looked confused at what Alicia just said. "I didn't find out that I was adopted until a couple weeks ago. I guess my parents thought that it would be okay not to tell me something like that." She sighed. "I wanted to see you... so my father brought me up here and, well, here I am."

"Are they... are they nice? Have they been nice to you?" Lia asked.

Alicia nodded. "Yeah, they're great." Lia smiled. "But I wanted to see you... I wanted to see who my real mother was." Lia nodded. "But you have to tell me one thing."

"Anything." Lia told her.

"Why did you give me up?" Alicia asked, worried that Lia would say that she didn't want her.

Lia sighed. "It's a little complicated. Umm... when I was about eighteen years old, I went on a date with someone... and it turned out that the man wasn't who I thought he was." Alicia nodded. "He raped me... and then I got pregnant. I dropped out of school during my pregnancy. But when the day came that you were born, I..." Lia choked on the tears that were threatening to fall. "I know this is going to sound horrible, but... I couldn't hold you are anything. I didn't want to. Because whenever I would look at you, it would take me back to the day that I was raped."

Alicia looked shocked at Lia's response, but kept on listening. "I know that it was a horrible thing to do. I gave you up... the only thing that I did do was name you."

"It's okay... I understand. It's not your fault that something like this happened to you. I mean, you gave me away to a nice family. I have lots of friends, and I live in a great neighborhood."

Lia smiled and brushed the tears away. "Enough about me... what about you? Are you in any clubs, on any teams?"

"Yep. I'm on the volleyball team. And not to brag, but I'm pretty popular, too." Alicia said.

Lia smirked. "Like mother like daughter."

They both laughed, and Alicia said, "I also have a boyfriend... he's a great guy."

"Just be careful with him." Lia warned her. "I don't want you to make the same mistake that I did. Make smart decisions and listen to your parents when they tell you to be careful with him. You never know what might happen."

Alicia nodded. "Okay, I will." She paused before asking, "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Yes. His name is Duff... he's really amazing." Lia told her, smiling.

"Oh, you mean that cute guy that was with me, waiting for you and Agent Lehman?" Alicia asked Lia.

Lia nodded. "Yeah, that's him. We've been going out for a couple of weeks now. The problem is, my boss is watching us like a hawk."

Alicia looked at her, confused. "Why?"

"You're not allowed to have romantic relationships with another colleague in the FBI unless you're married." Lia explained. "But thankfully, she let me and Duff off easily."

The younger girl sighed dreamily. "Ahh... I love forbidden love. It's so romantic."

Lia grinned. "Trust me, though... it gets complicated." She looked at her watch. "Oh geez, look at the time."

"Do you have to go back to work?" Lia could hear the sadness in Alicia's voice.

Lia picked up her coffee and got up out of her seat. "Yeah... I'm sorry. When is your dad coming to pick you up?"

Alicia looked down at her watch. "In a couple of hours."

"Oh." Lia stayed silent for a second. "Do you wanna hang out at the office for a little? If you want, I could show you around."

Alicia's face lit up. "Yeah! That would be great!"


	4. Chapter 4

Duff walked up to Emily, and sighed. "What the hell is going on?"

"What do you mean?" Emily asked Duff innocently, trying not to spill the beans about Lia's past.

"You know what I mean, Emily." Duff told her. "Lia looked like she was about to pass out when she saw Alicia with you."

Emily sighed. "I can't tell you, Duff. Not unless Lia tells me that I can." She saw Lia and Alicia exit the elevator. "In fact, why don't you ask her right now."

Duff turned his head and saw Lia, and walked over to her. "What's going on?"

"Um..." Lia turned to Alicia. "Do you think you could talk to Emily for a second?" Alicia looked at her, confused, and that's when Lia realized that she didn't know who Emily was. "Oh, sorry... Agent Lehman. I have to talk to Duff for a second."

Alicia nodded and walked away from Duff and Lia, who were staring at each other. Duff sat down in a chair, and Lia sat across from him.

"Now are you going to tell me who she is?" Duff asked.

"She's um..." Lia trailed off as tears threatened to fall.

Duff noticed this and took her hand in his. "Hey... it's okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Lia wiped her eyes. "No, you deserve to know." She sighed before continuing. "Alicia is my daughter."

Duff looked at her with shocked eyes, mouth agape. "Wh-Wh... what?" Duff scratched his head. "You have a daughter? But how? Were you married before?"

"No, I wasn't married. It's... it's not like that." Lia sighed again. "When I was a senior in high school, a guy that I went out with... he raped me. And he got me pregnant."

Staring at her in shock once again, Duff wrapped his arms around Lia. "I'm so sorry, Lia." She nuzzled her head in his shoulder. "How are you holding up with all of this?"

"I'm doing okay." Lia said. "I mean, yeah, it brings back bad memories, but... I'm handling it."

As all of this was happening, Emily and Alicia were watching them from a distance, and Alicia squealed. "Oh, that is so sweet! They are such a cute couple."

"Yeah." Emily agreed. "It's like they were made for each other."

Alicia nodded. "I'm glad that she's happy. I mean, after all she's been through in her life, its a wonder she's been going on any dates at all." Emily gave her a look. "She told me about what happened."

Back across the room, Leo and Duff ended their embrace. Duff caressed her cheek lightly. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Lia nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Uh, I don't mean to interrupt the tender moment." Alicia said, and Duff and Lia ended their embrace. "But I'm leaving now."

Lia frowned. "Now?"

"Yeah... I told my dad that I would meet him outside. It was great to finally meet you." Alicia told Lia.

Lia smiled. "Yeah. Maybe I'll come and visit you sometime." Alicia walked closer to Lia and hugged her tightly, and Lia returned the hug.

Emily, who joined the group, was smiling, along with Duff. As the two ended their embrace, Lia had a tear rolling down her cheek. But they were both tears of joy and sadness. As Alicia walked away, she waved goodbye to Lia, who waved back.

In the back of her mind, Lia knew that seeing Alicia brought back terrible memories, making her not want to see her face again. But she also was glad that she finally got to see her long lost daughter that she never wanted to hold. Lia knew that she was finally going to be okay.

* * *

Duff awoke to the sun glaring in his face. He then remembered that he forgot to close the blinds last night. Looking down, he saw Lia's head in the nook of his shoulder, her hair sprawled around her face. Lia's hand was placed on his bare chest, and Duff could feel her warm breath on his chest. Gazing at her, he lightly brushed a strand of hair out of her face. As he grazed her arm with his knuckles, she stirred in her sleep.

A moan came from Lia's mouth as she groggily opened her eyes to see Duff smiling at her. "Morning, sleepyhead."

Lia smiled lightly at him. "Hey. What time is it?"

Duff turned his body slightly and looked at the clock. "8:00."

Sighing, Lia traced her fingernails up and down his chest, causing him to shiver. "We have to go to work."

"We don't have to leave right now. We don't have any negotiations today... come on, I'll make breakfast." Duff got up, causing Lia to groan, not very happy that he got up.

"Don't pout, babe." Duff started walking out of the bedroom. "Get ready, and I'll have breakfast ready for you when you get out."

* * *

As Duff was finishing making the toast, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist, the stranger's body pressed against his. He shuddered as he felt light butterfly kisses on his neck. Hands began to roam his bare chest, grazing his bulging muscles over and over again. "You know if you keep doing that, I'll never be able to make breakfast for us."

The woman behind him smiled as she began kissing his earlobe and sucking on it, causing him to gasp. "I'm already eating, though." She whispered into his ear, her breath tickling the inside of his ear.

Turning around, Duff pushed Lia against the kitchen wall and kissed her passionately. Placing his hands on her hips, he began to nip at her neck, causing Lia to moan in delight. She knew that there would be a hickey left there, but she didn't care. She locked lips with Duff once again and he brushed his tongue against her bottom lip. Lia opened her mouth and their tongues began a passionate battle. Their kiss got interrupted by Duff's doorbell ringing.

Lia groaned as she ended the kiss. "Who could that be?"

"Don't know." Duff told her as he backed away from her, letting her move away from the wall. "Do you think that you could get the door? I have to finish breakfast."

Lia nodded and walked over to the door. Opening it, she saw Frank standing there, obviously aggrivated. But when he saw Lia, he was now more amused than aggrivated.

"Frank... what are you doing here?" Lia asked him, surprised.

Frank grinned. "I could ask you the same thing." He then noticed the hickey on her neck, and took in her appearance. "Did you have some fun with Duff?"

Lia looked at him confused, then blushed when she realized that he saw the hickey on her neck, as well as her appearance. All she was wearing was pajama pants and a tank top, and her tousled hair was another give away.

"Lia, who's at the door?" Duff asked her from the kitchen, and walked to the doorway to see Frank grinning. "What are you doing here, man?"

"Well, I was going to tell you that we had some field practice to do, but your cellphone was off. So, I tried to come over here." Frank explained, still surprised about what he had just found out.

Duff rubbed his head. "Ah, damn... I forgot all about that."

"I'll let you two enjoy your time today... you can skip this practice. All we're doing is training the newbies." Frank said.

Duff smiled. "Thanks, man."

Frank nodded and began walking away, but turned around and said, "Have fun, you two."

* * *

Cheryl was sitting in her office when there was a knock on the door. "Come in."

Emily walked into the room and up to Cheryl's desk. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes." Cheryl answered, and by the look on her face, Emily knew that something was wrong. "I don't want you to repeat this to anyone... do you hear me? This is confidential."

Emily nodded. "Okay."

Cheryl sighed. "I received a call from Lia's attorney earlier today... he's informed me about the situation with Lia."

"What situation?" Emily asked innocently, not sure if she was supposed to tell Cheryl that she knew about what happened with Lia.

"I know what happened to her when she was in high school. And judging by how close you two are as friends, I'm guessing that she told you about it." Cheryl said.

"Yeah, she told me." Emily's brow furrowed as she remembered the conversation that she had with Lia yesterday. "Why did Lia's attorney call you?"

"It seems that Adam, Lia's rapist, is out of jail and on probation as of today." Emily's eyes widened. "I told the attorney that I would inform Lia about it... but I would like you to."

"Why me?" Emily asked.

Cheryl shifted in her seat. "Because your much closer to her than I am, and I know you would know how to tell her without her freaking out."

Emily nodded. "Okay... I'll tell her."


	5. Chapter 5

Lia sat on the couch, her head laying laying on Duff's shoulder. They had just finished breakfast, and they were now watching tv. Lia sighed happily. "I could stay here all day."

Duff smiled. "Me too." He kissed her forehead.

Lia was about to kiss him back, when her cellphone rang. Getting up out of Duff's arms, she picked up her cellphone. Looking at the caller ID, she saw that it was Emily who was calling her. She answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Emily."

"Hey, Em. Do we have a crisis?" Lia asked.

"No." Emily answered. "I just... I need you to come into the office."

Lia looked at Duff before saying in to the phone, "Sure, I'll be there." She hung up.

"What was that about?" Duff asked her.

Lia walked over to him. "Emily needs me to come into the office for something... I'm not sure what, though."

* * *

Emily waited nervously in her office with Cheryl for Lia to come in. They both heard a knock on the door, and jumped in surprise. Emily looked at Cheryl with nervous eyes before walking to the door and opening it to see Lia and Duff standing there. "Uh, Duff... could you give us a minute?" 

Duff nodded and was about to walk away when Lia grabbed his arm. "No... it's okay. He can stay." Emily gave her a questioning look. "If this is about what I told you, he can stay. I told him about it."

Emily nodded and let Lia and Duff into the office. "I'm not really sure how to tell you this, but..." Emily trailed off, not sure how to tell Lia that Adam, her rapist, was set free, but Cheryl nudged her a little, urging her to go on. "Cheryl got a call from your attorney."

Lia raised her eyebrows. "About what?"

"He went to court to hear about Adam." Emily answered.

Lia looked at her, shocked. "A-As in... Adam, from high school?"

Cheryl nodded. "Yes... your rapist. His jail sentence has ended as of today, and he's now on probation."

Still in shock, Lia stumbled over to the wall for support. Leaning on it, her breath started to quicken, and Duff was immediately by her side. "You okay?"

Nodding, she leaned on him. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just... I didn't except this."

"He's going to be on probation for only a couple of weeks... so I suggest that you keep an eye out." Cheryl said to Lia, who nodded.

* * *

Duff was practicing shooting when Frank came into the room. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to hear him, Frank removed the covers from Duff's ears. "So how come you never told me about you and Mathers?" 

Duff shrugged. "Never came to me."

"Whatever, man." Frank said. "So... was it good?"

"What're you talking about?" Duff asked him, confused.

Frank was smiling. "Was she good in bed?"

Duff turned to face him. "Do you ask that question to every guy you know when you find out that they've been having sex with a girl?"

"No." Frank answered. "But you never did answer my question... was Lia good with sex?"

Setting the gun down, Duff took of the protective glasses. "Hell yeah... she's damn amazing."

Frank smirked. "Maybe when you're done with Mathers, I'll see if she wants to do it with me. Ever since I broke up with my girlfriend, I've been needing to get laid more than ever."

"No way, dude. I'm not breaking up with Lia." Duff objected.

"Come on, Duff... you've been known in the office for being a player... you dump girls practically every week." Frank said.

Duff rolled his eyes. "Yeah right... and like Lia would ever give you a chance with her." Frank gave him a look. "Look man... I know a man's not supposed to talk about his feelings, but... dude, I love her. Ever since I laid eyes on her, I-"

Frank interrupted him by saying, "Dude... don't tell me about this, I'm not good with the whole feelings thing. If you want to talk to someone about it, talk to a girl... more specifically... Lia."


	6. Chapter 6

Emily stepped out of her office, and walked over to where Matt's office was. Knocking on the door, she waited patiently for an answer. "Come in." Stepping inside, she saw Matt crouched over his desk, reading paperwork. "Hey... hope I'm not interrupting."

"No, not at all." Matt said quickly, and he pushed the papers away. "So... what did you need?"

"Well, I actually just needed to talk to you." Matt nodded, and Emily sighed. "It's about Duff and Lia."

"What about them?" Matt asked.

Emily sat down in the seat across from him. "Look... Lia's my best friend, and you're really good friends with Duff. She's been there for me for god knows how many times I've made mistakes or something like that. I know that she's happy with Duff, but... I just... I don't want to see her get hurt."

Matt looked at her, confused. "Why would Lia be hurt?"

"Well... it seems that Duff has had a reputation around the office for being a player." Matt raised his eyebrows at what she said. "He dumps girls practically every week. It's like he doesn't care about their feelings. I'm not saying that Duff's a bad person, it's just that I don't want to see it happen to someone like Lia."

"Emily... Duff would never do anything like that to Lia." Matt told her. "Whenever I see them together, its like a whole other side of him comes out. A side that he's never shown before in his life. The way Duff looks at Lia... he's never looked at anyone like that." Emily nodded, and Matt took her hand in his. "He would never do anything to hurt her... trust me."

* * *

Duff walked into Sloans, a bar which was a local FBI hangout. Sitting down at the bar, he ordered a beer. 

He had been sitting there, thinking, when he heard footsteps behind him. "And what would a handsome man like you be doing here, sitting all alone?"

Duff turned around and his eyes met with Lia's. Her eyes held a bit of a twinkle in them. He shrugged. "Just thinking, thats all."

Lia joined him at the bar, sitting down right next to him. "Beer, please." She said to the bartender, who nodded and walked away.

"Cheryl's going to talk to Adam's attorney today." Lia said quietly.

Duff nodded. "Do you think you're going to be okay, knowing that he's out of jail?"

"Well, I'm not exactly enthusiastic about it." Lia said. "But yeah... I'll be fine. I mean, if he's on probation, he won't be able to go anywhere. Adam won't be able to hurt anybody, especially Alicia."

"How is she?" Duff asked her.

Lia shrugged. "She's fine. I talked to her last night, she said that she really wanted to visit again." Duff smiled. "She really likes you."

Duff was about to say something, but the bartender walked up to the both of them, beer in hand.

He placed it on the bar table, putting it in front of Lia. "Thanks." She took a swig of it.

"Lia." She looked at him, and he took her small hands in his. "I want you to know... that-" He was interrupted by Lia's phone ringing.

"Oh, hold that thought." She answered it. "Hello? Oh, hey Em... no, I'm just at Sloans with Duff. Umm, sure... I can come in. Yeah, I'll be there in a sec." She hung up and placed it back into her pocket. "Emily needs me to go in and help her with something." Duff nodded. "Umm... what was it that you wanted to tell me?"

Now, Duff didn't even have the courage to say it anymore. "It's nothing... its not important."

Lia smiled. "Okay... I'll see you later." She gave him a light kiss before walking out of Sloans.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Ms. Carrera, but there's nothing that I can do about that. My client has rights." The man argued. 

Cheryl was sitting in a room with Adam's lawyer, along with Lia's, and the judge.

Cheryl was fuming with anger, but the judge placed a hand on her shoulder, signaling her to calm down. "Ms. Carrerra... Adam is going to be on probation for a month. We know that he is a dangerous criminal, but there's nothing else that we can do about it, unless he has committed amother crime."

Nodding, Cheryl walked out of the room.

* * *

Walking over to her computer, Lia began to look up information for Emily, who was standing right next to her. A man's photo came up onto the screen. "Mitch Sanders... he has a clean slate. No crimes, not even a speeding ticket. He has a wife, two kids, and works as a restaurant manager." 

Emily's brow furrowed in confusion. "Then why would he be the HT? It doesn't make any sense... he doesn't need anything."

"What if he needs the money for something?" By the look on Emily's face, Lia knew that Emily didn't understand. "Remember that kid who's sister was in the hospital?" Emily nodded. "What if Mitch is like him... maybe he needs the money to help someone in his family, or for something else."

"That could be it." Emily said. "Matt, did you hear that?" She asked him into the headset.

"Loud and clear, Em." Matt answered. "I'll pry it out of him."

"Be careful, Matt... this guy could sursprise you." Lia warned him, a hint of nervousness in her voice. She knew that Matt knew how to handle himself, but sometimes, people aren't always what they seem.

Lia had learned that when she and Adam Sanders crossed paths eight years ago.

And she had paid the price.


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry about the slow update! I've been updating my other stories, and so it takes me a while. So, sorry for the wait. And thank you so much for reviewing!

Oh, and sorry, this one's pretty short... I'll try to make it longer next time.

* * *

Lia had been right about Mitch, who had needed the money to help his brother get out of jail for a crime that he never even committed. 

The man was innocent.

But that's not what the police thought.

Thankfully, Matt was able to talk Mitch down without hurting anybody.

Matt walked into the computer room where Lia and Emily were. "Hey Lia, thanks for the tip."

"No problem, Matt." Lia told him.

"I have to go teach a class... I'll see you guys later." Emily said, gave Matt a kiss on the cheek, and left the room.

Lia began gathering up her things and was about to walk out, but Matt stopped her. "Hey Lia... can I talk to you for a second?"

She nodded. "Sure... what's up?"

"Um, well... its about... Adam." Lia flinched as she heard that name come up. "Cheryl tried to do something about it. You know, maybe keep you protected or something... since you were his only victim. But she couldn't do anything about it."

"That's okay... at least Cheryl tried." Lia said softly, but a feeling of worry was beginning to grow deep inside her.

"Anyways... Adam's going to be on probation for only a couple weeks now. I was wondering if you wanted to stay with me and Emily... well, until we know that you're completely safe, of course." Matt told her.

Lia smiled. "Thanks for the offer, Matt, but I'll be fine."

Matt looked worried. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yeah... I'll be fine." _Hopefully._

* * *

Stepping into her apartment, Lia placed her belongings on the table next to the door and threw her jacket onto the couch. Wiped out, she plopped down onto the couch, and rested her head on the armrest. She closed her eyes as she drifted off into a light sleep, but a shrill ring interrupted her time of peace. Picking up the phone sitting next to her, she answered it. "Hello?" 

"Hi Lia, its Alicia." The soft voice said on the other line.

Lia smiled. "Hey Alicia, how are you?"

"I'm good." Alicia answered. "Listen... I was wondering if I could come down and visit you again sometime? You know, just talk."

"Sure, that would be great." Lia told her.

"Great! How about I come next Friday? I have the day off." Alicia asked.

She grinned. "Yeah, that's good. I'll see you then."

* * *

Meanwhile, Cheryl, Matt and Emily were sitting at Sloan's at the bar. 

"So... what are we going to do about this?" Emily asked Cheryl and Matt, sipping her beer.

Cheryl sighed. "I don't know... I tried my best to convince them. They just simply won't budge. They're pretty strict about it."

"We can't just leave her unprotected, though. I mean, I tried to convince her to stay at our place, but she disagreed." Matt explained. "There has to be another way."

Emily nodded in agreement. "Exactly... Adam's too dangerous. If we left Lia alone, who knows what can happen."

"Well, you never know... maybe Adam's changed." Cheryl said, but Emily and Matt stared at her in shock, like she was insane.

"You're kidding, right?" Emily asked, sarcastically. "Cheryl, people never change in jail. If they did, it would be a miracle."

Cheryl glared at her. "And how is that?"

"When you put people in jail, you don't teach them anything. You might teach them that they get punished for doing something bad, but as soon as you let them go free into the world, all they're gonna do is go back to what they did before, thinking that they can get away with it." Emily rambled. "I don't want this bastard roaming the streets with his past victim unprotected. People like him don't just let go of the past... they hang onto it to get revenge. Sweet, simple, revenge."

Matt and Cheryl just stared at her, shocked at what she just said. "I'll see what I can do." Cheryl said quietly.


	8. Chapter 8

Lia opened her eyes to see the flashing red and to hear the insane beeping. Her hand flew over her alarm clock, hitting the snooze button with ease. She got up out of bed groggily, and walked over to her bathroom, closing the door and discarding her clothing. She turned the water on, and sighed heavily. Looking into the mirror, she could clearly see the heavy bags under her eyes.

Stepping into the shower, she let the steaming water run down her body, stinging her skin. All she could think about was Adam.

But not the way she would think about Duff. Lia hated Adam. She just wished that he'll leave her alone when he's released.

But she knew that that's never going to happen.

* * *

Cheryl was sitting in her office, typing on her computer. It had been two days since she discussed about Adam with Matt and Emily, and she couldn't get the conversation off of her mind. It's like it was haunting her every move. As she checked her calendar, she saw that it was Tuesday. Two more days till Adam gets off of his probation. 

Sighing heavily, Cheryl gazed at the picture of Sam on her desk. Tears began to well up in her eyes, but she fought them back, and sniffled.

Cheryl heard a knock at the door and immediately looked away from the picture and back at her computer, pretending that she was doing that the whole time. "Come in."

The door opened, and Emily walked through with a worried look on her face. "We have a problem."

"What is it?" Cheryl asked her.

Emily sighed. "Adam's been let out a day early. Apparently, he was so good that they thought they should let him go early."

Cheryl stood up, angry. "Are you telling me that he's roaming the streets with Lia unprotected?!"

Emily nodded, not even a bit surprised at Cheryl's anger. "Yes... but I tried calling Lia's phone, and she didn't answer." Cheryl's face turned to worry. "But she's probably in the shower or something."

"We have to get a hold of her soon." Cheryl walked out of the office, with Emily following her. "Call Matt and Duff, and make sure that they're in on the situation."

* * *

Duff and Frank were in the basement, guns in hand. SWAT Members were standing around them, also armed with guns. Shooting at the targets, shots were going off every second. Duff felt his cell vibrate in his pocket, and stopped firing to pick it up. 

He answered it. "Duff Gonzalez."

"Duff, it's Emily. We have a problem." She said to him over the phone.

Duff walked away from the group so he could hear better. "What is it? Is Lia okay?"

She sighed. "Well, let's hope she is."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"It's Adam... he was removed from probation today." Emily told him.

Duff was shocked. "But I thought he wasn't supposed to be let out until-"

Emily interrupted him. "Tomorrow, I know. But they let him out early. I need you to keep an eye out for him. And watch Lia."

"Okay." Duff said.

* * *

Stepping out of the bathroom, she admired her work. Her hair was set in soft waves, and her make-up was set perfectly. She was sporting grey dress pants with a light blue blouse that showed some cleavage, but that was okay. Walking into her family room, she was about to put her shoes on when she heard a light knock on the door. Opening it, she gasped in shock. 

There, standing right in front of her, was Adam.

"Hey babe." He said, grinning, and took a step towards her, but she stepped back, still in an immense state of shock.

"Wh-What... you weren't supposed to be out until tomorrow." She said.

Adam laughed. "Yeah, but I put on a little act to get me out today. I couldn't wait to see you." He looked at her up and down. "God, you're even more beautiful than before."

Lia felt like she was going to be sick inside when she heard that. Her eyes scanned the room and fell on her phone. Adam noticed this too, and grabbed her arm. "I wouldn't do anything stupid if I were you, Lia."

"God, why won't you just leave me alone?!" She screamed at him, but he covered her mouth with his hand, silencing her.

She could tell that he was getting angry with her. "I love you, Lia... I just want you to love me too. Is that too much to ask?"

_Oh god... what is he going to do to me?_ Fear went through her body as she thought that. For a moment, to Lia, it looked like his eyes were showing sorrow. But that was soon replaced by rage and anger as his eyes fell upon a picture sitting on the coffee table. "What the hell is this?!" He grabbed the picture of her and Duff kissing. "Have you been cheating on me?"

"You don't own me, Adam! I'm not your property! I can have a life, I am not your girlfriend!" She yelled at him.

He smashed the picture frame on the ground, and it shattered into a million pieces, shards of glass surrounding the photo. Bending down, Adam grabbed a sharp piece of glass and held it in his hand, the glass gleaming from the sunlight coming in from the window.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"I'll make you feel it if I have to, Lia." He growled at her, and pushed her onto the floor, causing her to wince in pain as she fell on the sharp shards of glass. Not having enough time to move, Adam straddled Lia's body, pinning her to the ground.

She began to panic, beginning to figure out what was going to happen. "Please, don't do this. I'm begging you."

He just ignored her and grabbed her wrists with one hand, pinning them up over her head. Tears began to fall from her eyes, and a sob escaped from her throat. She tried to move, but he was just too strong. Adam's face hovered above hers, and he leaned down, his tongue flicking out and licking her cheek lightly, brushing away the salty tear that fell from her eye.

Lia cowered from him in disgust. _I will not let him do this to me again._ She soon began to struggle against him, causing him to groan unhappily. "Geez, I thought you were going to cooperate this time."

Able to now wriggle out from under him, Lia began to crawl over to the phone, but a knee to her fragile back sent her back to the ground as she cried out in pain.

"I told you not to do anything stupid, Lia. Now you'll have to pay the consequences." Adam said in her ear.

Fear filled her body once again as she spotted a knife and belt in his hand.

Adam's laugh filled the room. "Now... let's have a little fun, shall we?"


	9. Chapter 9

_Hey, you've reached Lia Mathers. I'm not here at the moment, please leave a message!_

Duff groaned in frustration as he ended the fifth call that he had made to Lia's apartment. He finally reached Lia's apartment complex and stepped out of the car. Dialing Emily's number, he placed the phone to his ear to wait for an answer.

"Hello?" The voice on the other line said.

"Emily, it's Duff. Listen, Lia hasn't been answering my phone calls." Duff told her.

"Maybe you should go and check on her." Emily said to him.

Duff sighed. "I'm already there, but-" His pager suddenly went off. "Damn it... we have a case."

"What about Lia?" Emily asked.

"I don't know." Duff said. "Cheryl says that all of us have to get down there immediately."

Emily sighed in frustration. "Duff, we don't have time! Just call Lia one more time and tell her about Adam! She doesn't know yet."

"Okay." Duff said.

* * *

Lia lay on her bed, hardly able to move. Bruises and cuts covered her body, blood pouring down her arms and legs. Her clothes were off, now shred to pieces on the floor. Adam sat in her bathroom, cleaning her blood off of his hands. 

_God... Duff, where are you?_

Lia heard a soft ringing and could tell that it was her phone.

Adam suddenly burst out of the bathroom, and walked over to her. "Lia, darling, how are you feeling?"

"Shut the hell up." Lia snarled at him.

Backhanding her in the face, she cried out in pain. "Look... I'm just trying to be nice to you. I swear, if you tell anyone about this, you will wish that you were never born. And who knows? That little boyfriend of yours may be a good target."

Lia's eyes widened in horror. "No, please! Don't hurt him. I'll do anything, just don't hurt him."

"That's your call, babe." He got up, and grabbed the knife from the coffee table, placing it in his jacket. "I'll be back, Lia. This was fun."

* * *

"Lia, it's Duff. Um, I don't know how to say this, but Adam... he's back." Duff sighed. "Just... call me as soon as you get this message, okay?" Duff hung up, sending the message to Lia's apartment. 

He arrived at the office, and saw Emily and Matt standing in a room with Cheryl and Frank. "Hey... what did I miss?"

"Duff, what are you doing here?" Cheryl asked him.

"What do you mean? I got a page from you saying that you needed me for a negotiation." Duff said, confused.

Cheryl nodded. "You're not needed anymore. We can handle this on our own. I want you and Emily to go check on Lia, make sure that she's okay."

"You know?" Duff asked her.

She nodded once again. "We all know, Duff... and we know about Adam."

"Come on, Duff, let's go." Emily said, following Duff out of the office.

* * *

Lia still lay on her bed, in shock of what had happened to her. _God, how the hell did I let him do this to me again? _

Sitting up, she got out of bed, but stumbled a bit. Steadying herself, Lia slowly walked out of her bedroom and into the family room, but stopped dead in her tracks.

She held her hand to her head, and fell to the floor, her head banging against the hardwood tiles, drifting into unconsciousness.

* * *

Quickly driving over to Lia's apartment, Emily and Duff sat in silence. As they arrived in the parking lot, they both rushed into the building, with Emily flashing her badge to the doorman, allowing them through. 

"Why did you do that?" Duff asked her.  
"Because we don't have time to be asked all of these questions and wait... Lia could be in danger." Emily said to him.

Finally reaching Lia's apartment door, Emily knocked on it. "Lia, open up, its Emily and Duff!"

Receiving no answer, Duff tried. "Lia, baby, you there?"

"Something's wrong." Emily realized. "Kick the door open."

Duff nodded, and brought his foot up to the door, kicking it open with one swift kick. What was in front of their eyes would stay in their minds forever. Laying in front of them, was Lia's unconscious body.

Dark blue and purple bruises covered practically every inch of her body, along with bloody cuts that still had drips of blood seeping through. Her hair was sprawled out around her face, her arms overlapping each other.

"Oh god!" Emily gasped, and felt like she was about to throw up.

"Lia!" Duff was immediately by her side. He grabbed a blanket off of the couch right next to them, and wrapped her in it. "Call an ambulance, Emily. She's going to need to get to the hospital fast... who knows how much blood she's lost with all of these cuts."

Emily nodded and whipped out her cellphone.

"It's okay, baby." Duff whispered, stroking Lia's hair lighty. "Everything's going to be okay."

* * *

Sorry that I haven't updated in a while! And this is a short chapter, but I couldn't think of anything else. Please R&R! 


	10. Chapter 10

Duff sat in the waiting room, his head in his hands. _God... how could I have let this happen?_

Duff's head shot up at the sound of footsteps approaching, but immediately relaxed when he saw that it was Emily.

"Matt and Cheryl are on their way." Emily told him softly and Duff nodded.

"Lia Mathers?" A doctor called out, and Emily and Duff immediately got up and walked over to him. "I'm Dr. Berman. Are you the family of Lia Mathers?"

Emily shook her head. "Her parents couldn't make it today, we haven't called them yet. I'm her best friend and Duff is her boyfriend."

Dr. Berman sighed. "I'm sorry, but I can't release this information unless its to family."

"Please, we need to know, we're the closest thing to family that she has right now." Duff pleaded.

"Ms. Mathers is in pretty bad shape." Dr. Berman said. "Would you two like to go in and see her?"

Duff nodded. "Yeah."

* * *

Duff, Emily and Dr. Berman entered a hospital room, and saw Lia laying on the hospital bed, still unconscious. 

"Oh god." Emily gasped, hardly being able to stand the sight of Lia's condition.

"Emily, do you think that you could..." Duff could hardly speak.

Emily nodded, knowing what he was going to request. "Of course... I'll go tell Matt what happened."

Duff smiled and Emily left the room, leaving only him and Lia. He walked over to her unconscious body, his hands wrapping around her fragile one. "Lia, baby, I'm so sorry."

A moan escaped Lia's lips, and her body shifted slightly. "Duff?"

"Yeah... I'm here, baby." Duff whispered to her. "How're you feeling?"  
Lia sighed. "Like crap." She suddenly looked around frantically. "Why am I in a hospital?"

Duff frowned. "You don't remember?"

"All I remember is coming home and going to sleep." Lia said. "Why, what happened to me?"

He sighed. "Lia, Adam... he... he raped you."

"Wh-What are you talking about? He's in jail!" Lia said frantically.

"No, he's not. Lia, he got let out a day early, and he came over to your apartment and attacked you." Duff explained. "I'm so sorry that I wasn't-"

Lia interrupted him. "It wasn't your fault." Duff looked confused. "I remember it all now... the beatings, the taunting... everything."

Duff felt anger well up in him. "I'm gonna kill that bastard."

Lia shook her head. "Don't... it won't do anything."

Confused, Duff stood up. "What do you mean?"

"Everything that he did to me... he should be punished for it." Lia tried sitting up, but winced in pain. "But you won't find him. Nobody ever does." She winced once more.

"Are you okay?" He asked her and began to lift up her shirt.

"Don't!" Lia said to him, keeping his hand from going any further and Duff looked suspicious. "It's nothing, it's just a little scratch."

Duff sighed, but kept lifting her shirt up, and what he saw caused him to well up within him once again. "I wouldn't call this just a scratch."

Lia looked away from him, avoiding his gaze. On her stomach, the letters ADAM were etched in, scarring her. Duff's fingers traveled over them lightly.

"Did he do this to you?" Duff asked her softly.

She nodded. "Yes." Tears fell from her eyes.

Duff's hand brushed the salty tears away from her eyes. "Everything will be okay, Lia... everything will be okay."

* * *

So sorry for updating so late! I've been busy with school and after-school activities. This will be one of my last chapters, and I thank everyone for reading and reviewing! 

PLEASE VIEW MY POLL FOR MY NEXT STORY WHICH IS ON MY BIO PAGE. PLEASE VOTE!


	11. Chapter 11

Lia sat in her hospital bed, a tray of food sitting on her lap. Her empty eyes stared at the food sitting before her. Not hearing the door open, she began mumbling incoherently, not noticing the person who entered giving her weird looks.

"Lia, are you okay?" The woman asked.

It was Emily.

Lia pushed the tray of food away from her. "What're you doing here?"

"Checking up on you." Emily said to her. "The nurses said that you haven't been eating. Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine." Lia looked away from Emily. "Thanks for checking up on me... you can leave, now."

"You can't just push everybody away, Lia." Emily sat down in the chair next to Lia's bed. "Sooner or later, you're going to have to let somebody in."

Lia shook her head. "I'm fine."

Sighing, Emily got up and walked to the door. "You're my best friend, Lia. I just want you to be okay."

* * *

Exiting Lia's room, Emily walked over to Matt, Duff, Frank and Cheryl who were sitting in the waiting room. 

"How is she?" Matt asked.

Emily sighed, and ran a hand through her brown hair. "She's barely talking to me. She doesn't want to talk to anybody."

"Well, there are some investigators here who want to talk to Lia about what happened." Cheryl told them.

"Don't you think that its a little early for that?" Emily wondered. "I mean, she's not even talking to us... how is she supposed to talk to people she barely knows?"

Frank shrugged. "Well, they're here right now."

Emily shook her head in denial. "Lia's not going to want to talk to them... at least not right now."

"The detectives are right over there." Duff glanced over to the two men standing near the front desk. "Should we tell them to come back later?"

Looking over at the investigators, Emily nodded. "Yeah. Just... tell them that she's not ready to talk yet. Maybe in a couple of days or something."

Suddenly, the investigators appeared right next to the group.

The investigator standing right next to Cheryl spoke up. "I'm Detective Sanders, and this is Detective Carlos. We'd like to ask Ms. Mathers some questions."

"Umm, I'm not sure if that's a good idea right now." Cheryl told them. "She's not in very good shape right now to talk to people about what happened."

"Well, she'll have to talk sometime... we need to get the story straight for the court hearing." Detective Sanders told them sternly.

Detective Carlos placed a hand on his partner's shoulder. "Hey, why don't we just come back later."

"No way. I'm gonna get fired if we don't get the alibi soon. The court hearing is tomorrow." Detective Sanders argued. "I'm sorry, but we need her to talk now."

Emily shook her head. "Look, I-"

Detective Sanders held up a hand to silence her. "We're sorry."

Walking over to Lia's hospital room, the detectives entered the room, with Emily and the others following them. Lia didn't even break her gaze from the window that she was staring at.

Duff walked over to Lia's bed, and sat down in the chair. "Lia. Lia, can you look at me?" She didn't even blink. "Please?" After waiting a couple seconds, he stood up and shrugged. "There are some people here to see you."

The two detectives walked closer to the edge of the bed.

"Ms. Mathers?" She still didn't look at them. "I'm Detective Carlos... is it alright if we ask you a few questions?" After not receiving a response, he decided to continue. "Could you tell us exactly what happened?"

A single tear fell from Lia's eye, but her eyes never wandered away from the window. All she did was whisper two words. "Get out."

Detective Sanders didn't even look surprised by her words. "Look, we just need you to-"

"I said get out." Lia said harshly. Her eyes finally met the Detective's, and all Detective Carlos could see was pain, anger and sorrow.

"I think we should get going." Detective Carlos said to Detective Sanders quietly.

"No way." Detective Sanders walked over to the side of the bed, only inches away from Lia. "Ms. Mathers, look at me." She gazed down at the white linen sheets that covered half of her body. "Look at me." He said more harshly, and she flinched.

"Hey, that's enough!" Cheryl announced and pushed him farther away from Lia's bed.

More tears ran down Lia's cheeks, and a sob escaped her throat.

Matt opened the door and turned to the detectives. "I think it's time for you both to leave."

And without saying any words at all, they exited the room, leaving everyone in silence.

* * *

Please R&R! I hope that you like the story so far! I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in a loong time, it's just that I have so much work to do for school and other stories. Please view my poll and my forum thread! 


	12. Chapter 12

_"You can't just push everybody away, Lia." Emily sat down in the chair next to Lia's bed. "Sooner or later, you're going to have to let somebody in."_

_Lia shook her head. "I'm fine."_

_Sighing, Emily got up and walked to the door. "You're my best friend, Lia. I just want you to be okay."_

* * *

_"How is she?" Matt asked. _

_Emily sighed, and ran a hand through her brown hair. "She's barely talking to me. She doesn't want to talk to anybody."_

_"Well, there are some investigators here who want to talk to Lia about what happened." Cheryl told them._

* * *

_The investigator standing right next to Cheryl spoke up. "I'm Detective Sanders, and this is Detective Carlos. We'd like to ask Ms. Mathers some questions."

* * *

__"Ms. Mathers?" She still didn't look at them. "I'm Detective Carlos... is it alright if we ask you a few questions?" After not receiving a response, he decided to continue. "Could you tell us exactly what happened?"_

_A single tear fell from Lia's eye, but her eyes never wandered away from the window. All she did was whisper two words. "Get out."_

_Detective Sanders didn't even look surprised by her words. "Look, we just need you to-"_

_"I said get out." Lia said harshly. Her eyes finally met the Detective's, and all Detective Carlos could see was pain, anger and sorrow. _

_"I think we should get going." Detective Carlos said to Detective Sanders quietly._

_"No way." Detective Sanders walked over to the side of the bed, only inches away from Lia. "Ms. Mathers, look at me." She gazed down at the white linen sheets that covered half of her body. "Look at me." He said more harshly, and she flinched. _

_"Hey, that's enough!" Cheryl announced and pushed him farther away from Lia's bed. _

_More tears ran down Lia's cheeks, and a sob escaped her throat. _

_Matt opened the door and turned to the detectives. "I think it's time for you both to leave."_

* * *

It had been two hours since the detectives visited Lia's room, and she was still in tears. Dry tears stained her cheeks, and her eyes were all red and puffy. She didn't let anyone talk to her except for Duff and Emily. 

"What're we going to do?" Matt asked Cheryl and Frank.

Cheryl sighed. "Well, I guess we could tell the judge to postpone the court date, but I'm not sure for how long."

Frank nodded. "Yeah... they're never really happy when you cancel on them."

"Well, we have no choice. If Lia won't admit what happened, then we won't have any evidence." Matt explained.

"But we have the physical evidence." Frank pointed out.

"Yeah." Matt agreed. "But if Lia doesn't testify against him, then they won't take it. They won't care about the physical evidence unless she admits to being sexually assaulted."

"Alright... we need to think of a plan. A way for Lia to admit what happened." Cheryl pondered.

Frank nodded in agreement. "Well, there are a couple of ways. We could get someone to force her into admitting it, but that would just be cruel, especially in the state that she's in." Frank thought for a moment. "Or... we should just let her tell us when she's ready."

Matt sighed. "I think that we should wait... besides, I don't think that it'll be long before Lia breaks down."

Emily nodded in agreement. "True."

"Do you think that I should try to talk to her now?" Duff asked, glancing over to Lia's hospital room.

"That would be a good idea." Cheryl told him. "I mean, the only person that she'll talk to is you."

Still staring at her room, Duff noticed that Lia was in a deep slumber once again. "I think that I'll talk to her tomorrow."

* * *

Detective Sanders sighed in exasperation. "What the hell are we supposed to do now? Not only do not have a statement from the victim, now we probably won't even be able to go near her again." 

"Well, you may not be able to, but I might." Detective Carlos said and received a harsh glare from his partner.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Detective Sanders asked him.

"You were treating her like she was a suspect." Detective Carlos explained, becoming angry. "You left the poor girl in tears. She's in a terrible state as it is, but you... you were just making everything worse."

Detective Sanders got up out of his seat. "Don't get all sympathetic, Carlos... she probably deserved it."

Finally hearing enough of his rambling, Detective Carlos stood up and walked over to his partner, standing only inches away. "Now you listen to me, and you listen good. No woman EVER deserves that sort of treatment. It doesn't matter if the woman is as sweet as an angel or a fricking devil. A woman should never be assaulted... ever."

Rolling his eyes, Detective Sanders scoffed. "Whatever."

Detective Carlos sighed, finally releasing all of the pressure inside of his chest and glanced at his watch. "Visitor hours are going to be open for a couple more hours." Walking over to his desk, he grabbed his jacket and his keys, putting his jacket on. "I'm going to go down and see if I can talk to her." He began to walk towards the door, and Detective Sanders began following, but Detective Carlos turned around and told him dark and harsh tone. "Alone."

* * *

Duff entered Lia's room quietly, hoping not to wake her. 

"Excuse me, sir." A shy nurse said behind him, and motioned for him to come outside.

Duff stepped outside, closing the door behind him quietly. "Can I help you?"

"Sir, visiting hours are over." The nurse told him.

Duff pulled out his FBI badge and flashed it in front of her. "I'm a federal agent... I have the right to be here."

Nodding in understandment, the nurse immediately backed off and walked away. Heading back into Lia's room, Duff placed his badge back in his pocket. Sitting down next to Lia's sleeping form, Duff brought a hand up to Lia's face, brushing a stray hair away. He hardly noticed the new prescence in the room, until the person cleared their throat loud enough so Duff could hear.

Turning around, Duff saw Detective Carlos standing there. "What the hell are you doing here? Don't make me-"

"Relax." Detective Carlos told him. "I'm not here as a Detective... I'm here as a friend."

Feeling Lia stir, Duff looked over to see her slowly awaken. Her eyes slowly opened, but when they feel upon Detective Carlos, she began to tense up.

"It's alright, baby." Duff told her quietly. "He's not here for an alibi."

Lia sighed, and relaxed immediately. "Oh... okay."

"Look... I'm so sorry for the way that my partner was treating you earlier. He just... let's just say that he doesn't have a very good bedside manner."

"I can see that." Lia said bluntly.

Walking a little closer to the bed, Detective Carlos placed his hands down on the end of the bed. "I know how tough it is right now... my sister was abused when she was a little girl. I can definitely relate to what's happening right now."

"How did she get through it?" Lia asked him.

Detective Carlos smiled softly. "She had all of her friends and family with her, supporting her. And she came out when she was ready... not when someone was making her." He reached into his coat pocket and grabbed a card and handed it to Lia. "Just call me when you're ready... take your time."

Just as he was about to leave, Lia glanced up from the card and gave him a faint smile. "Thank you."

* * *

So sorry that I haven't updated in a while, my computer crashed. Please R&R!! 


	13. Chapter 13

_"What're we going to do?" Matt asked Cheryl and Frank. _

_Cheryl sighed. "Well, I guess we could tell the judge to postpone the court date, but I'm not sure for how long." _

_Frank nodded. "Yeah... they're never really happy when you cancel on them." _

_"Well, we have no choice. If Lia won't admit what happened, then we won't have any evidence." Matt explained._

_"But we have the physical evidence." Frank pointed out._

_"Yeah." Matt agreed. "But if Lia doesn't testify against him, then they won't take it. They won't care about the physical evidence unless she admits to being sexually assaulted."_

* * *

_"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Detective Sanders asked him.  
"You were treating her like she was a suspect." Detective Carlos explained, becoming angry. "You left the poor girl in tears. She's in a terrible state as it is, but you... you were just making everything worse."_

* * *

_Finally hearing enough of his rambling, Detective Carlos stood up and walked over to his partner, standing only inches away. "Now you listen to me, and you listen good. No woman EVER deserves that sort of treatment. It doesn't matter if the woman is as sweet as an angel or a fricking devil. A woman should never be assaulted... ever." _

_Rolling his eyes, Detective Sanders scoffed. "Whatever."_

_Detective Carlos sighed, finally releasing all of the pressure inside of his chest and glanced at his watch. "Visitor hours are going to be open for a couple more hours." Walking over to his desk, he grabbed his jacket and his keys, putting his jacket on. "I'm going to go down and see if I can talk to her." He began to walk towards the door, and Detective Sanders began following, but Detective Carlos turned around and told him dark and harsh tone. "Alone."_

* * *

_Turning around, Duff saw Detective Carlos standing there. "What the hell are you doing here? Don't make me-"_

_"Relax." Detective Carlos told him. "I'm not here as a Detective... I'm here as a friend."_

* * *

_Walking a little closer to the bed, Detective Carlos placed his hands down on the end of the bed. "I know how tough it is right now... my sister was abused when she was a little girl. I can definitely relate to what's happening right now."_

_"How did she get through it?" Lia asked him._

_Detective Carlos smiled softly. "She had all of her friends and family with her, supporting her. And she came out when she was ready... not when someone was making her." He reached into his coat pocket and grabbed a card and handed it to Lia. "Just call me when you're ready... take your time."_

_Just as he was about to leave, Lia glanced up from the card and gave him a faint smile. "Thank you."_

* * *

Cheryl, Matt, Emily and Frank stood outside of Lia's room, waiting for Duff to come out. It was the next morning, and visiting hours finally opened. Of course, they didn't have to go by visiting hours because they were FBI agents, but they weren't visiting Lia is agents. They were visiting her as friends. They heard the door open slowly, and Duff walked out of the room, smiling at Lia before closing the door.

"How is she?" Matt asked Duff.

He shrugged, aand glanced back in Lia's room, where he could see her fiddling with her hospital bracelet. "She's doing a little better. I mean... well, at least she's talking to someone."

"Well, I was able to postpone the court date. They said that we should just call them when she's ready." Cheryl explained.

"I think she's opening up a little bit." Emily said." Ever since she talked with Detective Carlos, she's been... easier to talk to. I guess she's just realized that she's not the only one who's been in this situation."

Frank nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that could help with the process."

Duff sighed. "If she doesn't open up soon, we're going to have to take her to a therapist or something."

"Won't she have to go to one anyways?" Matt wondered. "To... help her deal and stuff?"

Emily glanced back at Lia, noticing that she was staring at the window once again. "Yeah, but... she needs to open up somehow. And if we can't get her to, then maybe the therapist can."

* * *

The moon loomed above in the clear blue sky, and the faint engine of a car could be heard as the black Toyota rolled into the apartment complex. Matt and Emily exited the car, both of them looking exhausted. Making their way to Emily's apartment, Matt placed his hand in hers, squeezing her hand gently, as if to silently tell her that everything would turn out okay. Opening the front door, they both walked into the apartment, throwing their jackets onto the nearby table.

Emily plopped down onto the couch, resting her head on the arm of the sofa. Dark bags were visible under her eyes, clearly from staying in the hospital with Lia the whole time.

Matt also noticed this and walked over to the couch, sitting down next to her. "Em, why don't you get some sleep... you need it."

Emily shook her head. "No... I can't." Matt looked confused, and let her continue. "Last time I went to sleep, I kept getting... nightmares, of what would of happened to Lia." She rested her head on his shoulder. "I can't just let this thing go... Lia's a sister to me."

Matt gave her a look. "I think that its something more than that. There has to be a reason why you're so attatched to this... and it can't just be that you're her best friend." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Something happened."

"College." She muttered. "In college... my roomate, she... her dad, he-" She choked back a sob, but continued. "He raped her... and I couldn't help her. Because I didn't know what to do." Silent tears fell from her face, but she wiped them away.

Matt nodded, understanding what she was saying. "So, you feel like its happening all over again."

Emily nodded her head. "I have to help Lia. I failed once... I can't fail again."

* * *

Back in Lia's hospital room, Lia lay in her hospital bed, asleep. Duff's form sat quietly next to her, also asleep, his hand intertwined in hers.

Soft groans came from Lia, her restless form wriggling from left to right in her hospital bed. Beads of sweat ran down her face, whimpers escaping her mouth from disturbing flashbacks that were running through her mind.

_"God, why won't you just leave me alone?!" She screamed at him, but he covered her mouth with his hand, silencing her. _

_She could tell that he was getting angry with her. "I love you, Lia... I just want you to love me too. Is that too much to ask?" _

Adam's voice echoed in her mind as she began to toss and turn once again.

_"What are you doing?" She asked him. _

_"I'll make you feel it if I have to, Lia." He growled at her, and pushed her onto the floor, causing her to wince in pain as she fell on the sharp shards of glass. Not having enough time to move, Adam straddled Lia's body, pinning her to the ground. _

_She began to panic, beginning to figure out what was going to happen. "Please, don't do this. I'm begging you."_

"No... no." Lia whimpered softly, her hand squeezing Duff's lightly.

_Backhanding her in the face, she cried out in pain. "Look... I'm just trying to be nice to you. I swear, if you tell anyone about this, you will wish that you were never born. And who knows? That little boyfriend of yours may be a good target."_

_Lia's eyes widened in horror. "No, please! Don't hurt him. I'll do anything, just don't hurt him."_

_"That's your call, babe." He got up, and grabbed the knife from the coffee table, placing it in his jacket. "I'll be back, Lia. This was fun."_

"No, please... please don't hurt him!" Lia whimpered once again, and her grip on Duff's hand hardened, causing him to wake up.

He noticed Lia's face covered with sweat, and her eyes shut tightly as if she were in pain. "Lia, Lia baby, you okay?"

"Please, stop! Stop... I-I'm begging you!" She yelled, her eyes shooting open, her dark brown orbs filled with pain and fear. As soon as she saw Duff standing next to her though, her eyes connected with his, and she immediately calmed down.

"It's okay, baby." Duff whispered to her, his hand stroking her face lightly.

Fear was still evident on Lia's face as she stared up into his soft brown eyes. "I'm scared."

"Everything will be okay." He assured her. "We'll get through this." Lia twitched slightly, and confusion was all over her face. "You okay?"

"I-I-" Lia couldn't finish her sentence, as her body began to convulse violently in her bed.

Duff began to panic and ran to the door. "Help! She's having a seizure!"

* * *

Please R&R and tell me what you think!!


	14. Chapter 14

_"Well, I was able to postpone the court date. They said that we should just call them when she's ready." Cheryl explained. _

_"I think she's opening up a little bit." Emily said." Ever since she talked with Detective Carlos, she's been... easier to talk to. I guess she's just realized that she's not the only one who's been in this situation."

* * *

__Matt also noticed this and walked over to the couch, sitting down next to her. "Em, why don't you get some sleep... you need it."_

_Emily shook her head. "No... I can't." Matt looked confused, and let her continue. "Last time I went to sleep, I kept getting... nightmares, of what would of happened to Lia." She rested her head on his shoulder. "I can't just let this thing go... Lia's like a sister to me."_

_Matt gave her a look. "I think that its something more than that. There has to be a reason why you're so attatched to this... and it can't just be that you're her best friend." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Something happened."_

_"College." She muttered. "In college... my roomate, she... her dad, he-" She choked back a sob, but continued. "He raped her... and I couldn't help her. Because I didn't know what to do." Silent tears fell from her face, but she wiped them away._

_Matt nodded, understanding what she was saying. "So, you feel like its happening all over again." _

_Emily nodded her head. "I have to help Lia. I failed once... I can't fail again."

* * *

__Soft groans came from Lia, her restless form wriggling from left to right in her hospital bed. Beads of sweat ran down her face, whimpers escaping her mouth from disturbing flashbacks that were running through her mind._

_"No, please... please don't hurt him!" Lia whimpered once again, and her grip on Duff's hand hardened, causing him to wake up. _

_He noticed Lia's face covered with sweat, and her eyes shut tightly as if she were in pain. "Lia, Lia baby, you okay?"_

_"Please, stop! Stop... I-I'm begging you!" She yelled, her eyes shooting open, her dark brown orbs filled with pain and fear. As soon as she saw Duff standing next to her though, her eyes connected with his, and she immediately calmed down. _

_"It's okay, baby." Duff whispered to her, his hand stroking her face lightly. _

_Fear was still evident on Lia's face as she stared up into his soft brown eyes. "I'm scared." _

_"Everything will be okay." He assured her. "We'll get through this." Lia twitched slightly, and confusion was all over her face. "You okay?"_

_"I-I-" Lia couldn't finish her sentence, as her body began to convulse violently in her bed. _

_Duff began to panic and ran to the door. "Help! She's having a seizure!"

* * *

_Duff sat in the waiting room, his head resting in the palms of his hands. Footsteps could be heard and he looked up to see the doctor approaching him, and he rose up from his seat. "How is she?"

"She's doing okay... the seizure was minor, just a myoclonic seizure, and it didn't cause much damage, just a couple more bruises." He glanced down at his chart. "But I am a little worried about her condition."

Duff stared at the doctor, confusion written all over his face. "What condition?"

"She's not very responsive to the treatment that we're giving her right now... we're afraid that she may be severely depressed." The doctor explained.

Duff couldn't believe what the doctor was saying. Lia depressed? No way. If anything, she should be doing better right now. "But... she... she hasn't shown any signs of depression."

The doctor shook his head. "She has been showing signs of depression ever since she was admitted."

"But isn't this sort of typical for a..." Duff's voice grew into a whisper, afraid that Lia may hear him. "A rape victim?"

"Well, yes, but her case is very different from others." The doctor took another look at his charts. "You see, Lia's willing to admit that she was assaulted, which many women are very reluctant to do, but she won't talk about it."

Duff scoffed. "But that has nothing to do with anything. Almost every woman who was assaulted probably wouldn't want to talk about it."

"Ever since she had that seizure, she thinks that she's in a different world... she's acting like her assault never happened and that she was never admitted into the hospital." He explained. "We need you to be her medical proxy for now. We know how close you are to her and that she trusts you and only you."

Duff nodded. "Whatever it takes to get her better and out of here, doctor."

"Just be careful with her. If you say something wrong, it may set her off. And if she doesn't get better soon, we may need to put her into the psychiatric ward." The doctor explained.

Shaking his head, the doctor could tell that Duff wasn't happy with what was going on. "She's not crazy... she's just confused. That's all."

* * *

Back at the FBI office, Cheryl sat in her office, along with Emily, Matt and Frank. Cheryl was finally the one to speak up. "Why don't you guys go home and get some sleep."

Emily shook her head in denial. "No... I'm staying here. I need to help Lia."

Cheryl began to get frustrated with Emily's reluctance. "Lehman, you need to-"

"Cheryl." Matt interrupted her, and by the look that he was giving her, she knew that she shouldn't say anything more.

"Have you contacted Lia's family yet?" Frank asked Cheryl, trying to lighten the subject. "They should know."

"Not yet." Cheryl told him and looked over at Emily. " I thought that Emily should do that."

Emily looked up at Cheryl, obviously surprised. "Why me?"

"You're closer to their family than I am. And you've met them before." Cheryl explained. "I thought that it would be easier for you to explain to them than me."

Emily stood still for a moment, before fidgeting her feet a little bit . "Do you think I should tell them ?"

Cheryl sat down into her chair, placing her hands on her desk and looking up at Emily. "You tell me."

Without saying a word, Emily nodded and walked out of the office. Matt glanced around quickly before following Emily out of the office. Running up to catch up with her, Matt slowed his pace when he reached her. "So are you going to tell them ?"

Fastening her pace, Emily reached the elevator and began pressing the button hastily. Crossing her arms, she began fidgeting once again, her eyes darting back and forth. "I don't know."

"Why wouldn't you want to tell them?" Matt asked her in disbelief. "Their daughter is hurt. They need to know about it." The elevator doors opened, allowing Emily to walk in. But Matt didn't follow. " Why are you avoiding this? Why don't you want them to come?"

Matt didn't receive an answer though, only a sharp glare from her. The elevator doors closed, leaving Matt standing there, staring at the now closed doors. He would just have to get it out of her later.

* * *

Author's Note: Guys, I am terribly sorry that I haven't updated in a LONG time! I have been so busy with school and everything, so I haven't been on the computer for a while. Please R&R! I didn't mean for this to be a short chapter, but I have like nine other stories to update still, so be patient. Thanks for all of this support, you guys are awesome!


	15. Chapter 15

Emily got into her car, but didn't start it. She placed her forehead on the steering wheel, while her body went limp. She needed to rest so badly. But she definitely did not want to go to sleep when she knew that Adam was still out there, and that he could be hurting other people.

They hadn't even started an investigation yet. They were too worried about Lia. Their emotions on the case were clouding their judgment. They should have been straight on the case when Adam attacked Lia, but they didn't. Emily took out her cellphone from her pocket and began dialing a number. Placing it up to her ear, she waited until someone picked up.

"Flannery."

"Hey, Matt. Ask Cheryl if we can start an investigation now." Emily said to him.

"For what?" Matt wondered.

She smacked her head in disbelief, wondering why he hasn't figured it out yet. "For Lia, Matt! We need to catch Adam before he hurts anyone else. You need to go back to her house and see if you can find anything."

Matt stayed silent for a moment. "Alright." He then changed the subject. "Are you okay? Did you call Lia's parents yet?"

Emily sighed. "No, I haven't yet. I'll call you later."

As soon as she was about to put her phone down, it began ringing. She opened it back up. "Lehman."

"Hey, it's Duff."

"What's the matter, is Lia okay?" Emily began panicking.

"She's fine, now." Duff told her.

Emily made a face. "What do you mean, _now_? What happened?"

Emily could hear him hesitating over the phone. "Lia, she... she was having a nightmare about Adam, and then, she had a seizure. The doctor said it was only a small one, but he said that it made her sort of... forget that all of it ever happened. She doesn't remember coming to the hospital or anything."  
"Is she going to be okay?" Emily asked him.

"I don't know." Duff said honestly. He wasn't sure himself if she would ever get better.  
Emily started the car. "Alright, I'm in the car now. I'll come over to the hospital."

* * *

Duff paced around the hallway outside Lia's room, the smell of the hospital becoming all too familiar to him now. They had been here for two days, and nothing good has happened. Lia was still in critical shape, mentally. Her wounds would be healed soon. Duff cringed at the thought of her wounds. What angered him the most was that Adam would do such an insane thing as carve his name in her stomach. His hand curled up into a fist, tensing it so hard that it began to shake ferociously.

He didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to help Lia.

But he was damn well going to try his hardest to get her better.

Glancing into her room, he saw that she was now awake, and he made her towards her room. The door slid open, and he popped his head in. "Mind if I come in?"

"No, not at all." Lia told him, happy to see him. "Are you here to take me home? Because I can't stand being in here. It's like a cage. There's no reason for me to be here right now, I don't know why they haven't discharged me yet."

"Lia." She stared into his brown, soulful eyes and knew that something was wrong. "I'm guessing the doctors told you about your... condition."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh god, not you too!"

"Lia, you have to listen to me." Duff told her. "You know that I would never lie to you. All I want is for you to be happy again and be able to go back to living your life. But you have to listen to me. The doctors weren't lying. You were sexually assaulted, and you had a seizure a while ago. It caused you to believe that it never happened and that you were never admitted into the hospital."

Lia's face held pure shock, like it just registered into her mind. Her words came out in a mere whisper. "I was.... I was raped?!"

Duff nodded, and she wiped her fresh tears away from her eyes. The word kept repeating in her mind. Rape. Suddenly, she remembered. She remembered everything. All of the things that she didn't want to. "Oh god... I remember. I remember everything."

It pained him to see her like this, but what more could he do? He heard a soft tap on the glass, and he turned his head to see Emily standing outside, her expression sad and confused.

"I'll be right back. Do you think you'll be okay?" He asked her. He didn't want to leave her. What if she had another seizure?

Lia nodded. "I'll be fine. Can you have her come in here when you guys are done?"

"Of course." He stood up and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I'll be back."

Walking out of her room, he closed the door and turned to face Emily. "Have we found Adam yet?"

Emily shook her head. "No. We're still looking. But as long as Lia's here, she's safe. We should probably place some guards at her door. Just in case." Duff nodded in agreement. "So... is she alright? I mean, since the seizure."

"She's getting better. She seems to remember everything that happened. That's good, but I mean, in a way... its bad. Now she has to remember everything. Everything that Adam did to her."

"It's probably better for her to know." Emily said. She paused for a moment before speaking again. "Matt and Cheryl want me to call Lia's parents."

"Alright, then call them." He could tell though in the tone of her voice that she was hesitant. "What's wrong?"

"I looked at her file after she told me the story about Adam. She hasn't had any contact with her parents since she left for college." Emily explained. "She hasn't talked to them because... because it says that her father abused her. Ever since what happened with Adam, she was abused."

"Oh my god." Duff whispered, shocked about what he was hearing. How could someone do something so horrible? "What about her mom? Why hasn't she had any contact with Lia?"

"Her mother died shortly after what happened with Adam from a heart attack." Emily told him. "I didn't want to tell Matt and Cheryl."

"But they're bound to find out sooner or later though. They're probably going to look at her file." Duff said.

Emily nodded. "Yeah, I know. So now, we're pretty much all she has."

Duff sighed. "She wants to see you."

* * *

Stepping into Lia's room, Emily shuddered slightly. Every time she walked into her room, she suddenly felt an uneasy vibe from Lia, like she didn't trust her. It was understandable though, because of everything that she's been through in her life.

Lia looked up at her best friend, glad that she was there. "Hey Em."

Em. She hadn't heard that in a while. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

"Better." Lia told her. "I just want to get out of here." She chuckled a bit.

"I don't mean to bring down the mood, but... Cheryl and Matt want me to call your parents." Lia's eyes immediately clouded over, anger now in her irises. "I told them that I was going to wait a little bit. I wanted to talk to you about it before I told them anything."

"Do they know anything about... you know... what happened?" She asked her. Emily just shook her head. "Just tell them that I don't want him here. If they ask about my mom, just... just tell them what happened to her. I don't care about them knowing about her, I just care about them knowing about _him_."

"Okay." Emily agreed. "I told Duff though. I thought that he should know."

"That's fine." Lia said. "When can I be discharged?"

"You can be discharged tomorrow." A voice said, and they both turned their gaze to her doctor standing in the doorway. "Mr. Gonzalez told me that you now remember what happened. We haven't seen any other complications, so we're going to let you go tomorrow morning."

Lia smiled in gratitude. "Thank you."

"Doctor, want to advise you that we're going to be placing two of our agents at her door at all times." Emily spoke up.

Lia rolled her eyes. "Em, that's really not necessary."

Emily shook her head, not agreeing. "I'm not going to take the chance, Lia. Please." She looked over at Lia's doctor for approval.

"It's fine by me." He told her.

"Thank you." Emily said.

* * *

Sorry that this chapter was kind of bland, but I didn't know what else to put. The next chapter will probably be my last, so it will be much longer, I'm guessing. Please R&R!


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